Just short of the one-third pole in the regular season, and with the Ottawa Fury FC on their best run in four seasons, Carl Haworth can already draw comparisons between the 2018 edition of the Fury and the incredible run to the North American Soccer League’s Fall League final back in 2015.

The captain and longest-serving member of the local side says the likenesses run right down to a slow start followed by rapid improvement.

“That (2015) season didn’t start the greatest, either,” said Haworth, a fifth-year Fury member at forward. “At 10 games, it’s a little hard to say much. But there are similarities.

“Our first four or five games this year were not our best, either. Then we tightened the defence and it’s made it tough for teams to break us down. We’ve sat back and controlled the tempo more.

“This team has huge potential. And we haven’t even shown our best yet. It’s exciting to think about what the next few games might hold.”

After an uninspiring start, the Fury are on a roll with wins in three of their past four games while riding an unbeaten streak currently at five games heading into Wednesday’s 7 p.m. matchup with last-place Toronto FC II at TD Place.

The Fury have gone five games undefeated in each of the past two seasons although not in such productive fashion.

The 2017 squad went five games without a loss between last Aug. 27 and Sept. 24 with five straight draws and just five points to show for it.

The Fury did the same over almost identical dates in 2016 with five draws in five games, followed by two wins for a seven-game unbeaten streak.

Those two streaks pale to this one, however, when one considers the Fury have picked up 11 of a possible 15 points to climb the United Soccer League’s Eastern Conference table to playoff contention.

The club is still a long way from matching the five-game and four-game winning streaks of the 2015 team, a season that ended with a 12-game unbeaten streak. They are nonetheless tracking in a positive direction by anyone’s standards.

A win over Toronto — which would be the fourth in five games for the Fury around a draw — would give the Fury 14 of a possible 18 points, and at least temporarily lift the team into the eighth and final playoff spot for the first time this season.

A key, certainly, is five straight clean sheets. The bigger byproduct of the streak is the overall team play on both sides of the ball.

“It’s just a matter of time before the goals start going in,” said Haworth. “We will get the results.

“All that matters is the team is going well and we are going into games knowing we won’t be giving up much. We know one or two goals could do it for us.

“Everyone has bought in. From the 11 who start through the seven on the bench. And we’ve had this belief since Day One. Even with the bad start.

“The theory is to win the home games, then get some points on the road, too.”

Fury head coach Nikola Popovic is not one to make grand predictions or get too high after a win or too low after a tough loss.

It’s “all about the performance,” the head coach says every week.

That said, he’s starting to think this team can be what he and general manager Julian de Guzman envisioned back when training camp began.

“I believe this team is on the verge,” said Popovic. “Our last five performances have been very good.

“We are starting to earn more (scoring) chances that before. We hit four posts (Friday night) … not three.

“Right now, we are not perfect. But we are getting better and better.

“But this run is worth nothing if we go back to how we played in the past.”

Yes, the Ottawa Fury FC head coach is aware the developmental squad for the defending MLS-Champion Toronto FC has not won in 11 United Soccer League games to date.

Popovic knows the measly two points they have earned came about in a pair of 0-0 draws back in April and their points total is easily the least among the 33 USL teams.

And with a quick look at the league table, he can see Toronto’s goal-differential at minus-14 is also the worst league-wide.

But all Popovic has to do is remind his team that as the month of May began, the Fury FC were fighting with Toronto to get out of the Eastern Conference basement.

“Sometimes the standings don’t reflect what is really happening,” said Popovic this week, as the Fury FC did a quick turnaround from Friday’s 1-0 win to prepare for Wednesday night’s match at TD Place (7 p.m.). The week gets even shorter given the Fury go right back at it Saturday at 7 p.m., when they play host to the Charlotte Independence.

“The trouble with Toronto is you never know what roster they are going to bring,” said Popovic. “They are a young team and they have changed their starting 11 so many times. You just never know what to prepare for.

“So it’s important we keep the sheet clean and go from there.”

Toronto began the season by going a stretch of eight games from March 24 through May 9 with just three goals-for while being shut out on five occasions.

Things have improved of late, however, with seven goals in their past three games, including four in a May 16 5-4 loss to Atlanta. And they gave the Tampa Bay Rowdies all they could handle last Saturday, tying things 2-2 in the second half before falling 4-2.

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